| Linfield cut loose to celebrate, although the
outcome never seemed in doubt. Linfield athletics photo |
Texas-Tyler, Christopher Newport, Eastern Connecticut, Cortland State, Messiah, Luther, Cortland State, DePauw and Linfield all advanced to the Division III softball championships in Salem, Va. And Linfield did so in dominating fashion, not allowing a single run in sweeping four games in Pella, Iowa.
The top-ranked Wildcats finished it off by running roughshod over their fourth straight opponent, this time a 12-0 five-inning thrashing of host Central in the championship game of the NCAA Division III Pella Regional.
Once all the damage was added up, the Wildcats had outscored their regional counterparts 49-0, hit .505 as a team, and piled up 23 strikeouts in 20 innings of action.
Linfield advances to its fourth NCAA Finals since 2006. The Wildcats play Cortland State in a first-round game Friday at the Moyer Sports Complex.
The Northwest Conference champion Wildcats scored multiple runs in every inning but the second.
Pitcher Claire Velaski struck out six batters across five innings to record her fourth shutout victory of the tournament, handcuffing the Dutch to just two hits.
Leadoff batter Kayla Hubrich continued her torrid hitting pace with three base hits and Emily Keagbine went 3-for-3 and connected on her 17th home run straight into a headwind at gusty Kuyper Athletics Complex.
Wildcats Alex Hartmann and Emilee Lepp both were 2-for-3 at the plate. Hartmann drove in two runs with a triple down the right-field line to get things rolling in the first.
Six Wildcats had hits in the game as Linfield piled up 13 hits for the day.
Eastern Connecticut State advanced in decidedly different fashion. In Monday's one-game, winner-take-all showdown with Little East Conference foe Rhode Island College at the Dayna A. Bazar Softball Complex on the RIC campus, junior All-America righty Molly Rathbun won her 23rd game of the year in 24 decisions and freshman left fielder Stephanie Johnson knocked in three of the team's runs with two singles and scored the team's fourth as the Warriors rebounded from Sunday's two-run loss to RIC to win their fourth tournament game in five days by a score of 4-1.
"After Sunday's loss, we knew that we had to move on," said Johnson, one of four freshman starters in the lineup, "and we felt confident going into the game (Monday)."
Batting sixth in the order in Sunday's 3-1 loss to Rhode Island, Johnson was 0-for-2 with a strikeout against RIC senior ace Amanda Berard (18-7). Batting eighth in the order Monday, she collected half of the team's six hits. Her second-inning single up the middle scored sophomore first baseman Kelly Paterson -- who had doubled with one out -- to give Eastern an early lead. In the fifth, Johnson led off with an infield single to short and raced home on junior All-New England Region Priscilla Alicea's ground ball to short.
With Rathbun holding Rhode Island (38-13) to one hit through five innings, the Warriors virtually sealed the win on Johnson's two-out, two-run single -- again a sharp ground ball through the middle -- in the sixth. Sophomore cleanup hitter Arielle Cooper and Paterson drew walks around a Berard strikeout and both move moved up on a sacrifice bunt by DP Rachel Soychak -- the team's only senior -- to set the stage for Johnson's two-run single.
Rathbun fanned six and walked one in her complete-game, three-hit performance and also had two hits. The two-time All-America and conference Pitcher of the Year, Rathbun set down the first 12 batters in order before walking Chelsi Panarelli to open the fifth.
Matchups in Salem
First-round games Friday, May 20
All times p.m., EDT, unless noted
Cortland State vs. Linfield, 11 a.m.
Luther vs. Texas-Tyler, 1:30
Messiah vs. DePauw, 4
Eastern Connecticut vs. Christopher Newport, 6:30
Full bracket